Cardiac Arrests

[Carl]

Many fire and rescue services including my own are taking part in the Emergency Medical Response (EMR) trials where fire crews are attending cardiac arrests. I could write a whole section on the things we have had to endure, but one particular area that interests me is the training, if any, the watch officers have had in terms of dealing with the relatives of those we attend. 

Obviously this is a new thing to us all, so performing CPR aside, what have you had in terms of dealing with the aftermath of attending Cardiac Arrests.

[Matt]

I'm yet to see any signs of guidance on what to do but a few people up and down the country I have spoken to have raised similar points not just for cardiac arrests but other CoRo type jobs.

They have found that situation more difficult that dealing with a poorly patient as they are been asked questions by the family they cannot answer.

[WayneHealey]

That's a new one for me too.  I'm back in tomorrow and just coincidentally, I'm taking the truck over to Hendon for a 1day defib refresher. I'll ask the question ??

[Halligan]

I've never had any training dealing with relatives, but that can be the hardest part of a cpr job when an upset husband or wife is stood by watching. If possible I get a bystander or a member of my crew to take them out of sight and earshot to get patient details and keep them occupied. We wouldn't stop cpr until told to do so by a paramedic so they'd be the ones to break any bad news to family present. On occasion we get follow up info from the ambulance crews about the patients condition and a pat on the back, and one recent unusual job ended up with the crew involved going for a debrief at hospital a few weeks after. 

[Carefree]

On 3 April 2017 at 3:10 PM, WayneHealey said:

That's a new one for me too.  I'm back in tomorrow and just coincidentally, I'm taking the truck over to Hendon for a 1day defib refresher. I'll ask the question ??

Did you ask the question Wayne?  I've been wondering the same ever since we (LFB) starting trialling co-responding.

[WayneHealey]

Answer no.  There is no training provided to deal with distressed family/friends etc at the moment.  

Trainer didn't know if this would change in the future, good point to raise with union I would suggest moving forward. 

[Jet]

A member of my watch asked this question (not sure if it was a trainer or a senior officer). The blunt reply was along the lines of "LAS don't so why would you?"

[FFNic]

I was talking to a paramedic at a co responding incident who told me he personally only gets around 5 working cardiac arrests a year on average, because they have to be in the right place at the right time... They were absolutely shocked when we told them we get at least 1 a tour. That's probably why they don't get the training dealing with aftercare because they aren't exposed to it frequently enough. 

[StephenKP]

Not sure if this will help Carl but there is a charity that provides advice to people who have suffered a bereavement called CRUSE they have a helpline see website here http://www.cruse.org.uk/about-cruse 

We have pushed many people towards them who have suffered a bereavement and they are very good, like mind its a charity but have well trained staff.  They also offer some loss and bereavement awareness training that may or may not be something you are looking for that may help http://www.cruse.org.uk/training/loss-and-bereavement-awareness

Granted this is if the worst case happens which I believe was the angle?

[Carl]

To be honest, we are never in a position to really start giving website links out to someone who has just, well, lets say taken their own life or passed away through illness etc. We do our bit and leave as soon as a paramedic turns up and allow them to take over. The training I am talking about is to deal with the state the relatives are in within the first 5 minutes of telling them their loved one has passed away. They all react in different ways, I am sure many will have a story or two to tell on this subject alone. 

Whilst your links may help with bereavement after the fact, unfortunately during the event, they are not going to be any comfort.